Method of ironing collars



I. F. VMLLEY.

METHOD OF IRONING COLLARS. APPLICATION FILED AuG.5.1915

Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS ISAAC F. WILLEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF IRONING COLLAR/S.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Au 24, 1920.

Application filed August 5, 1915. Serial No. 43,756.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I Issac F. WVILLEY, a citizen of the United tates, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented anew and-useful Method of Ironing Collars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a novel method of ironing collars, the collars being 'fed continuously to and through the ironing machine by placing them on a traveling or endless apron or its equivalent which feeds the collar with its inside surface uppermost continuously and laterally to the ironing devices, as contradistinguished from prior devices, where the collars are fed longitudinally or in the direction of their length to the ironing rolls.

In the last mentioned device of the prior art, owing to variations in the distance between the centers of juxtaposed rolls and to variations in the thickness of. the padding on the rolls, the collars are stretched longitudinally so that their originallength is increased and the natural spring in the collar is in a large measure destroyed, so that when the collar is buttoned on the wearer's shirt, it does not set properly, owing toits increase in length and to the destruction of its natural spring.

A further disadvantage of thedevicesof the prior art, when the collar is presented to the ironing devices longitudinally, is that the collar is liable to become split or injured at the seams and the buttonhoies damaged.

In the complete operation of laundrying a turndown collar in accordance with the methods at present in vogue, the steps are performed as follows First-the collars are washed in a wash- .ing machine; secondthey are removed from the washing machine and extracted or wrung out; thirdthey are passed through a collar and cuff starching machine. which sixththey are taken out of the dampening press and ironed in the collar ironing machine by being presented to the ironing devices in a longitudinal direction; sevenththey pass through the seam dampening ma- .chine whiclrdampens the seam, so they will turn Without breaking; eighth-they are passed through a machine that turns the collar down and dries the edge.

7 In my present invention I employ the novel step of continuously feeding the collars laterally in the same direction to the ironing devices, the longest portion of the collar being presented to the ironing devices laterally or in parallelism with the axes of the ironing cylinder and rolls and the entire collar being wholly uncovered and exposed tothe action of said ironing devices.

7 In practice, I may employ various forms of apparatus to perform my novel step of ironing above explained and I therefore do not confine myself to any specific machine but I have in practice successfully carried out my invention in the apparatus illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings in which-- Figure 1 represents in perspective a portion of a typical or preferred construction of ironing machine, wherein my process may be carried out, certain fof the parts being broken awayforthe sake of clearness of illustration.

Fig. 2 represents a vertical, transverse,

sectional view on line a2,;0 Fig. l, certain portions of the housing and actuating mechanism being omitted for the sake of clearness. r

The foregoing drawings are merely typical of an embodiment of ironing apparatus adapted to carry out my novel process and it is to be understood that the various instrumentalities represented therein are typical merely of other equivalent devices which may be employed in their stead Referring to the drawings r 1 designates the framework or housing of atypical ironing machine and 2 the endlessfeeding apron which feeds the collar 13 to be ironed to the drum or ironing cylinder 3 and the juxtaposed coacting ironing .rollst.

The feeding apron is of the usual character and caused to travel in the direction of the arrows by any suitablemeans as by the rotation of the apron carrying roller 8 or preferably as in the present instance by the rotation of the ironing roller 5 which has on .its shaft a sprocket wheel 11 driven by a belt 6 from the sprocket wheel 7. 9 designates tension rolls for the apron and 14 designates a felt covered presser roll located below the apron and ironing roll 5 and out of alinein unison, said shaft having power initially applied, thereto.

' provided with sprocket wheels 17 also in mesh with the gearor teeth 12 of the hollow drum 3, whereby said rollers 4: and drum 3 p The shafts of tlieironrollers l'may be will rotate in unison but I do not desire to be limited to any particular mechanism for effectingthe simultaneous rotation ot said drum and ironing rollers 4L and 5' or the apron carrying roller 8,'since the rotation of these elements may be effected by other means than that-shown, it being only essential in the carrying out of the broad idea of my invention that the drum '3, ironing rolls e and 5fand feeding apron 2 be caused to travel by any suitable means in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2.

It will be apparenttl'iat said rolls are placed closely in juxtaposition so as to effect the continuous feeding of the laterally pre sented collars 13 around the drum3, between the latter and said ironing rolls It will also be obvious'that the tension rolls 9 and the presser roll lemay be idlers or power" driven as desired.

The interior of the drum 3 and ironing roller 5-are preferably heated by the introduction of any suitable heating" medium thereinto and the roller 14: as also'the rollers 4 may be covered with felt or other material.

In carrying out the steps of my process the collars 13 are first washed in the washing machine and after being washed and the water withdrawn therefrom, are starched in the wash wheel which has a certain amount of boiled or raw starch introducedthereinto,

' second the collars are taken out of the wash wheel in this starched condition and extracted, third the collars are next placed on the apron'Q, as seen in Fig. 1, the inside face of the collar being uppermost, and the collar withits entire surface wholly exposed is propelled first under the ironing and feed 'ing roller 5, at which point by'reason of the fact that the'lower roll 14 is out of vertical alineinent with the roll 5, an increased ironing area ispresented tothecollar and a greater polish is obtained, since by my construction a considerable portionof the ironing roll5 contacts with the collar. The collar then passesconsecutively between the peripheries or the iron-ingiareas or the large drum 3 and the sinaller rollers 4, which are revolving'in unison, the forward movement result is also obtained.

of the collar being continuous by reason of the rollers 4 being arranged in proximity to each other, and both sides or the collar being ironed and the longest dimension of the collar being always presented to the ironing de vices, so that it is longitudinally parallel to the axes of the drum 3 and ironing rolls 5 and sor, in other-Words, presented wholly exposed and laterally thereto instead of longitudinally to the ironing surfaces.

- it-will be seen from theiforegoingthat by reason of the collocation of the ironing rolls 4 with respect tothe heated drum 3 that a collar while being fed. forward laterally is sub ected to" a? seriesof applications of pressure upon both sides thereof while heat is being continuous-l" applied to-one, and preterably the outer side thereof, the applicationsof pressure being so timed that after the series commences, each successive application of pressure begins before its predecessor terminates. Iain aware that it has heretofore been proposed in' the patent to Schmidt No. 289,148,

to :fasten collars on :a' table so that they extend at substantially right angles to the axis of travel oi the table. Owing to the fact'that the means employed to clamp the collars on the end 01" the-table covers the edges of the collars, such edges are not acted upon by the ironing devices-at all and owing further to'the iact that the table is merely reciprocated back and forth beneath anup per ironing roll, only 'onesurfa ce of the collar is ironed. In said prior Schmidt machine, in order to iron the opposite surface of the collars,- it is then necessary to remove the table, unlock the clamping means, reverse said collars and then. reciprocate them again beneath the ironing roller during a desired interval of time, until both sides of the collar are ironed.

My present method clearly differentiates from the method such as is disclosed in said prior patent, since I do not employ a reciprocating table but present every portion oi the collarsuncovered and exposed to the ironing devices ano propelthem forwardly instead of reciprocating them and I am enabl'ed.to obtain a greater economy, both in time and in labor, and a greatly improved It-willfurther be seen that inaccordance with my present method, a considerable portion of the periphery of the ironing roller 5' comes into contact with the collar and instead of reciprocating the collars therebeneath, a continuous feeding movement of the collar is obtained and both sides of the collar are acted upon and efiiciently-ironed during its travel through theironing machine. J I l s It will thus be seen from the foregoing that in carrying out the steps of my invention, I first initially ironstlie inside surface of the flattened turnover collar by means of the heated ironing roll 5 and propel the same continuously and forwardly to the extended or increased heated ironing area composed of the outer surface of the enlarged drum 3 coacting with the smaller rollers 4, whereby the resultant outer face of the collar receives the requisite polishing, and the collar is not, stretched or elongated during the ironing operation, as is evident.

I have not deemed it necessary to show or describe the precise construction of the boxes or bearings for the rollers 8, 9, let and l, as it will be apparent that these may be supported in any suitable manner, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the bearings for the ironing roller 5 being shown as supported in the housing of the machine but it will be apparent that these may be otherwise supported if desired.

lVhile I have shown the ironing rollers 4L as nine in number, it will be apparent that this number may be increased or diminished according to requirements, it being further apparent that the collars after being finally ironed by the drum 3 and its adjuncts will leave the ironing machine with the requisite polish and luster thereon.

lVhile I have particularly described my invention as regards the step of ironing as being particularly applicable to turndown collars of the character commonly in vogue, at the present time, it will be apparent that the mechanism or apparatus herein shown is capable of use for ironing other articles besides collars.

In the present instance I preferably drive initially or apply power to the shaft 15, whereby the sprocket wheel 11 is rotated and simultaneously the drum 3 and ironing rolls 4;, the feeding apron 2 being preferably propelled in the direction of the arr ws, by means of its frictional contact with the ironing roller 5 and the presser roll 14, which latter in practice I prefer to mount out of vertical alinement with the ironing roll, as stated, whereby its active ironing area is increased. I also preferably arrange said roll 14 so that it may receive vertical movement at will. I have not deemed it necessary to describe this feature in detail, as it forms, er 56, no part of the present invention. l Vhile in practice I prefer to cover the rolls 14 and 4; with felt or similar suitable material and to employ the roll 5 uncovered, and to use the roller 8 as an idler, changes in these features may be made if desired.

It will now be apparent that I have devised a novel and useful construction for carrying out my method of ironing and laundrying collars which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention and the above description, and while I have, in the present instance, shown and described preferred embodiments thereof which will give in practice satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that the same are susceptible of modification in various particulars Without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is

A method of ironing a collar which consists in continuously feeding a collar with its inside surface uppermost and uncovered and exposed to the ironing devices forwardly laterally in a direction at right angles to its length, initially applying heat and pressure to theupper side and pressure alone to the underside of the forwardly-moving collar throughout the length thereof, then subjecting the collar during a portion of its forward traverse to heat and pressure at its upper side and throughout its length and yielding pressure at its under side and throughout its length, whereby the polish of the collar is increased, and then subjectin g the forwardly-moving collar throughout its length to the applications of pressure upon the upper side of the collar and heat and pressure against the underside of the collar.

4 ISAAC F. IVILLEY.

Witnesses:

C. D. lWIoVAY, K. M. BROPHY. 

